Re: TIB: getting new calc

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Re: TIB: getting new calc


Ryan Richter wrote:

> Yeah, I can only get one calculator, and I'm debating
> between the 86 and the 89.  About how long would it
> take to become familiar with the 89 after using the
> 83?  And is BASIC for the 89 very difficult to learn?
> How similair is it to the 83 BASIC?

I personally think that the 89 is a lot easier to use than the 86. And
even when you're learning, how could you possible crash it every five
seconds, whoever said that? Anyways, the 89 has a lot of commands and
characters and stuff right on the keypad, but on the 86 everything's
many things you use in programming (quotes, greater than and less than,
etc.). The 89 is in insert mode by default, which makes things easier
too, as do the cut, copy, and paste functions. And BASIC on the TI-89 is
really easy to get used to, there's not that much difference. Some of
the main ones are that you must use close parenthesis with any function
and instead of using End for If, For, While, and Repeat functions, you
use EndIf, EndFor, and EndWhile (there's no Repeat loop, but there is a
Loop ... EndLoop which is useful... it loops automatically until you
break out of the loop with Exit. On the 89, you can test to see if a
variable exists, and see what data type it is if it does exist, you can
enclose things in a Try ... Else ... EndTry thing which tries to execute
everything between Try and Else, and if there's an error, it doesn't
stop the program and give you the error; instead it executes whatever's
after Else. You can define variables as local variables in a program,
which means that they exist only while the program's running, and delete
themselves after it's done (if there's a local variable x, and something
stored to x on the calculator, the one on the calc will not be touched
at all). You can also define a subprogram inside of a program, which is
as easy as putting this at the top of the program:
Define subprgm()=Prgm
code
code
code
etc.
EndPrgm
Of course you can name the program whatever you want... and if you don't
declare the program variable as local before you define the program,
then it'll be created on the calculator and stay. You can also store
strings in lists, like {"ABC","DEF",123,"GHI",x}-->bleeargh. There's
more, also, but I think you get the idea :-). And yes, I do have an 86
and an 89, and I still use both, but the 89 a lot more.
La dee da.....

   Adam Newhouse
   cheetah@cheetahsden.com
   http://www.cheetahsden.com
References: